The White Moon Project
by DarkMasterStarr
Summary: Yui Ikari once asked her husband if they had a child, what would they name him or her. Gendo said, "Rei, if it was a girl and Shinji, if it was a boy." What if they had a daughter instead a son? ReiShinji
1. A Stormy Arrival, Part 1

_Another chapter of my life, it seems._

My "life"… I scoff at that word, oh my life.

What is life really? What is the meaning to live? I have not came up with that answer yet to my question and I probably will never as I live.

For the first fourteen years of my life, it seems I have never it "easy".

My mother, where are you now?

My father, why are you still alive?

Me, why am I still here?

I have been living for many years with my teacher and his wife, who was home-schooling me for some time now. Never did I have any real ambitions or no dreams or no desires in my life. I did not want to become a lawyer. I didn't want to become a police officer. I didn't want to become a diplomat, official of office or Congress or any type of politic and certainly didn't want to become a teacher. With the way my teacher always screamed and yelled at me, agitated and irate of my presence, I certainly didn't want to teach anyone of any kind.

Sure, there had been things I had been good at on my own like being a cook or a writer or artist of music or art but I had no desires to become anything, nothing. I had much to do.

Searching for the purpose of my existence was enough for the most of it.

That was my greatest desire.

**2015 A.D.**

"_…We're very sorry. We cannot bring your phone call through to _562-345-968._ At this time and date, the phone services of Version are down because of a certain emergency. If you-_"

The phone slammed down on its receiver and with an exhausted and annoyed sigh, the figure turned. "What the hell? How many other phones I have to try to get a damn call through?" Walking away, the figure with almost silvery skin and skinny digits tapped on the metal coating of the phone booth. Growling at the site of another phone booth, the figure resultantly walked to another phone booth.

Popping in one of the many limited yen coins, the shape had in their pockets, waiting for a dial tone.

"_Ring, ring_." The phone tried to pick up. "_Ring, ring_." Again. "_…We're very sorry_._ We cannot bring your phone call through to _562-345-968._ At this time_-"

"Arch! Damn it all, why can't I get a blasted phone call in?!" The feminine voiced figure almost threw a tantrum but quickly calming down, the figure sat down on the dirty yellow bag. "Why did I decide to come to this city anyway? For _him_?!"

Sitting down and looking in the skies for a minute, she noticed something strange about it. "Huh? VTOLs? Aren't they used when in wartime?"

And as soon as she said it, the skies blew open with red --- an explosion opened up, hitting something on its impact… something awesome and just… just ghastly. She pointed to a large being with things that looked like _rib cages _sticking out or embedded (which ever one, the figure didn't care any bit at the moment) in its chest. With a red orb also, long and wiry limbs, it took hold of the flying ship and threw it into a nearby building, where an explosion cried out. The explosion and the fire soon easily took out the building as it collapsed with glass and fire. She cringed. "I hope there were any people in that building… or around it."

The plane's fiery corpse fell nearby the destroyed building. The demon-like monster stalked by the building, pounding tremors into the ground that she could now feel. She felt foolish that she could not see (or the matter _feel_) the strange ogre coming in or see the fighter planes flying by to wage a battle of the monster. Speaking of battles…

She winced as she saw the monster lift its leg up and crush a lowly flying plane with its seeming protracted but thin legs. Then, it quickly swiped its arms across an area where VTOLs were flying, destroying the fleet. In the next few minutes, her eyes were unswervingly on the monster, she could not here a car whizzing towards her until the last minute where the car screeched and stopped in front of her. It was a very old car at that: a 2003 Ford GT Mustang. It was black with blue stripes. It seemed to be a good car with a good health at least, albeit old-fashioned and not like most cars today that were mostly hybrid cars at best and not gas-guzzlers like the Mustang in front of her.

Behind the wheel was a scruffy man with an unshaved beard, a messy ponytail, a blue shirt with a black tie and – it looked like it –slacked pants. "You're Rei Ikari?"

"Who asking?"

"Kaji Ryouji of NERV, little missy, and I will be your driver today." Out the window, sheepishly grinned a ponytail-wearing man, with calm brown eyes looking at her. He said coolly, with a charming smile. However, the girl did not see as charming. "Come on, Rei-chan, I'll take you to where you need to be."

She crossed her arms. "And where should that be?"

"To where your father works in, my dear."

She froze and turned to him. Nodding, she dived into the car. Knowing she was secured in the vehicle, he made a sharp U-Turn and raced down the broken down street of Tokyo-3.

_**The Black Moon Project**_

Arc 1: Genesis

_**Chapter 1**_

"So, you're Rei Ikari. I must admit you seem to take from your mother's beautiful looks even though you seem to take on the idea of blue hair as cool, huh?"

The man's idle talking in the car was opposing his disregards of the speed limits, which by the way was back at 35 – Mr. Kaji was doing 70 down the discombobulated roads. Rei, the mentioned girl before scoffed at this and shrugged back. "I like the color blue, Ryouji-san."

"Just Kaji is fine, Rei-chan. After all, that makes me feel older."

_'And you aren't old?' _Rei's eyes darted at the man's feature. It was true he looked young with a shapely jaw line and his face was ironed, devoid of any wrinkle or ripple but something about him told her that he was older than he seemed. Maybe it was his coal black eyes. "Kaji-san… what is this?"

"What is what, kiddo?"

"What's wrong with this city?" She leaned towards the slightly dirty window. It seemed it hasn't been washed recently. "It looks like the city is up in flames."

"Yes well", Kaji cleared his throat, "you see Mr. Old-and-Gruesome out there? The 'monster'?"

She nodded wordlessly. He continued, as he concentrated not driving into a discarded tree branch over on the road. "Well, it's a little thing we call an 'Angel'."

"'Angel'?" The very word sounded so foreign to her.

"Yeah." Kaji turned, easing away from a patched hole in the empty bridged road that carried his Mustang.

"I'm sorry, correct me if I wrong, but aren't angels 'holy sentient beings of righteousness' or something akin to that? Not saying I'm a Christian or anything religious but…" She trailed off, just giving Kaji's seat a pointed look of which Kaji didn't take long to catch on to.

He smiled droopily. "You have some kind of humor, huh? At least I'm the only one now. Yes, I know the idea is… 'Farfetched'", Kaji air-quoted as he, himself, was trying to find a better word than "stupid", "but that's the technical term, via NERV."

"Another thing. What's this NERV thing I keep hearing about?"

"NERV is where your father works at or rather, commands at. He's the root of that organization, an organization to save the world."

She scoffed darkly. "Wow, so noble of him."

Kaji wasn't oblivious to her sarcasm. "You have some disbelief that your father would create a company like that?"

She shrugged stiffly, almost if it was painful to do. "'Disbelief' is a little understatement but sure. It doesn't seem like him."

"Why doesn't it?" Kaji smiled, seemingly curious at her answer? She could not tell.

"It doesn't." Rei monotonously said.

"Well, believe it or not your father is behind the organization trying to prevent Third Impact."

"'Third Impact?" She questioned.

Kaji turned to her as he slowed down the car. "You know of the First Impact and the Second Impact?"

"Yeah, what of them?"

"First Impact was the universal hypothesis that a part of the Earth was split, curtsey of a meteor, thereby forming the Moon. Scientists coin it as the Giant Impact that happened 4 billion years ago. Second Impact was a global disaster. The story was another meteor came to the planet, causing tidal waves that destroyed many southern hemisphere countries and existing places. And with that, plunder, famine and chaos ensued."

"So, what? My father is trying to stop another thing like that happening?" Rei said neutrally. "Like I said before, how noble of him." She deadpanned.

Kaji smiled toothily. "I thought you were going to be some quiet, maybe a tad boring kid but you turned out to be all right." He said amicably. _'Maybe a little too "amicably"'_, thought Rei. It wouldn't be strange for the man to be using sarcasm like her. She quietly applauded him for not making so obvious like her.

"And I thought you were going to a woman." Said Rei, wryly, fishing out a picture out of her black jeans. She flashed a picture to him. His groaning was simple: he knew who the woman was.

"Aww, Misato, you couldn't be more obscene, could you?" He lightly blushed at the embarrassing photo. Said woman's name belonged to the purple-headed young woman, flashing her cleavage in a yellow tank top and cut off shorts.

"I take it you know her." Rei knew the answer to come. His stiff nod came and she grinned a little. "Well, she looks healthy."

"You don't know the half of it. If you have a co-worker who once shows up to work drunk, then you know Misato is pretty healthy. Surprise she hasn't gotten liver failure or a ulcer." Kaji said, offhandedly. "She was supposed to pick you up but knowing her, she's was terminally tired and woke up late."

"Sounds like a winner."

"Yeah, I should know her, me and her are 'familiar' with each other." Kaji air-quoted, taking his hands off the steering wheel for a second. "She doesn't like me to say 'ex'. I guess I'm kind of a handful for her."

Rei nodded and turned to the window. Seeing the familiar VTOLs and fighter jets fly by, shooting almost unlimited ammunition towards the armored demon Kaji hailed as an 'Angel'. The Angel again, seemingly laughing as the VTOLs and jets failed to bring the monster down. Wasting not a second, the monster's arms rapidly went in the air, smacking the airborne and destroying everything in the skies that proved to be a threat towards It.

She noted, at the corner of her eye, that the surviving VTOLs flew far from the demon. "Hey, they're running away…?"

Kaji's face scrunched up. "Shit. Rei, tuck your head into your lap and get ready for a loud boom!!" Kaji himself stopped driving and promptly moved into a silly position. She, took the sign as an upcoming destruction, did the same as the older man. Like the man said, a blast roared through the air, ripping through a part of the city. She looked up briefly to see a bubble of destruction as fiery debris flew by and grain was projected through the skies. When the boom's loud resonance dropped down, all she saw was a smoky aftermath.

"What… was _that_?" Rei said, in awe.

"Yeah, bad, isn't it? That, _ma chere_, was the disparaging detonation of a N² mine. It's the nuclear bomb without the nuclear. Probably one of mankind's greatest kind of warfare… well, one of them."

"'One'?"

Kaji just smilled and look at them. "Lucky, the blast didn't knock us and the car off our feet, so, we can continue."

"Did the monster die because of that bomb?"

"Not likely, kid. The N² mine is a nice addition to mankind's wartoys but not powerful enough to take out an Angel." As accordance to Kaji's words, the Angel rose again from its falling, seemingly not affected by the garguatan blast. "But something will be able to take it out."

"What?"

"Our trump card." Kaji smiled as over the car leaped out the Angel, who look a little hazed but nothing too serious like being destroyed. Kaji smiled lightly, almost knowingly. "Well, that _worked _well." He said sarcastically, humor tickling his throat.

Rei was still staring in the sky, her earthly blue eyes following after the Angel. _'W-What? How did-?' _

Kaji grabbed her arm and started stirring her gently, returning her to consciousness. "Come on, Rei-chan, wake up now."

"Wh-What exactly is that demon?" She said, fear ringing in her throat.

"An Angel, Rei-chan." He corrected and then, he shrugged. "Well, I can't explain it but… they say these monsters, these Angels can destroy Earth."

"Wait, what? I'm not a Christian or anything but aren't angels suppose to be all 'righteous' and 'peaceful' and almost human-like? Not that… _thing _in the sky?" She said, her sarcasm covering up her nervousness.

Kaji let out a hearty laugh; it almost sounded hollow as her sarcasm. " It seems weird, huh?"

"You think?" Rei monotonously spoke, with poisonous sarcasm dipping down her rosy lips. Her pale visage was stirred with troubling thoughts, her stretched eyebrows burrowed in pondering.

"Don't think too much about it, Rei. Maybe you'll learn more about it from the rest of the NERV personnel, prebably Ritsuko."

"Ritsuko?" Rei asked.

"Heh, you'll see soon. Hopefully, they learned their lesson and won't bomb the place again." He said, with a light snort, _maybe he was laughing at their foolishness_, Rei noted.

---

The next few ten minutes commenced, without a lot of talking, which sound a little better to Rei, although the sounds of gunfire and the beast's stomping throughtout the streets were still pounding in her head violently. Kaji's eyes were more focused on the road than to talk to Rei, she guessed. She didn't blame him. The constant holes and cracks on the road was almost inevitable and one slip up could cost them both of their lives and Rei, no matter how much she though her life sucked, still didn't want to die.

She grinned lightly at that thought but then, it disappeared when Kaji drove deeper into a tunnel, and stopped on a wall, labeled as "NERV".

"Huh?" Was Rei's only intelligent response.

Kaji made no remark (snippy or dry) to her rhetorical question. He instead jumped out his car and pulled out a card out of his slacks.

He swiped through a slot on the wall and simply entered his car, never once looking at her, except saying, "Welcome to NERV, Rei. Despite that slogan over head," He quickly pointed to a sign of a fig leaf halved, saying the writings "God is in his Heaven and all is right with the World", "All isn't right with this world."

_'Indeed.' _She knew he meant something a whole lot different than the obvious reason of why he said that, but she didn't bother to dive into his ambugity right now.

Instead, she had to focus on meeting her father.

_'Father… Has it really been so long since I last seen him. Ever since…'_

She closed her eyes, relaxing them and her mind from the thoughts to come.

_'It has been that long, I guess.' _She looked briefly outside, as the car was put on an elevator, with Kaji's words not even coming into her ears. _'Last time I was with you, I was with Mother… Now, you're the commander of this organization, to prevent some catastrophic, catalystic thing from happening? Why does the thought of you trying to save the world bother me so? It just…'_

"It just doesn't sound like you…" She finished the thought outloud, whispering to herself. Thankfully, Kaji was too wrapped in his snippy comments on the organization he worked in. Rei knew he didn't like his job obviously.

"You know what position your father holds in this organization, Rei?" Kaji asked, turning to her finally.

"All I know, from my teacher, is that he's tasked to save the world and safeguard the human race. I think he's the commander of this _operation_." Rei could not really find a word better than "organization". It was that though: a mission to save the world. Somehow, Rei felt a shiver under her skin, itching her spine; it didn't sound right to say her father was an global philanthropist. After all, her father and her weren't on good terms with each other.

Rei guessed they never were.

Again, after Kaji went more in depth with Rei's father's position at NERV – which she ultimately ignored because it made her a little queasy to hear it – a period of silence ushered. The tunnel broke, letting in light into Rei's eyes. She gasped a little, inching more towards the window. "A geofront…!"

"Yep. This geo-front is a live-underground ecosystem. It also serves as NERV's secret headquaters, several miles underground. Officially, welcome to NERV." He smiled, looking into a glowing, childish awe and fascination perking in Rei's cobalt eyes.

"It's… beautiful." He smiled at what she said.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot. You remember receiving an ID card in the mail a few days before you came here?" Kaji said, scruffing through his glove department. He successfully pulled out a healthy sized book. "Here. For you eyes only."

After giving him the ID card, she received the book and sarcastically said, "Nice paraphrasing," after figuring out her quoted the book's immediate words.

He grinned, sheepish. Rei took one cobalt glance at that ID card, holding her name on it. She remembered briefly how she threw a tantrum when that card came in the mail, how she almost ripped it and the letter her father set her, saying "Come" simply. The envelope of which she received it in was almost taunting her. She almost tore all three _psuedo_-useless items into pieces but the urge gotten the better of her.

The urge to confront her father.

---

The free ride was over, as both of them got out the car. Kaji swiped both of them in and soon, they ventured deep into the hallways of NERV. Rei looked at her surroundings, acknowledging the bleakly-colored walls and how the lights dangled, flickered and shined proudly through this place. Rei looked briefly at Kaji's back and stifly walked in the back of him. Soon, soon she would see him, she knew it.

She didn't even need to ask Kaji that. She knew it was about _damn _time she did. It's has been ten long, _gruesome_ years, spending more than half of her existance far from her father. Ten years of people who you didn't like living with you, ten years of having to be reprimanded and scolded for innocent mistakes, for everything you did, almost as if you breathed, that was your worst mistake. Rei was ready for change indeed.

Kaji grinned, despite Rei's drowning in her thoughts. "Well, well, the good doctor is here, I see."

Rei looked straightly in the direction Kaji was speaking in and looked apathetically at a newer person in her eyes. The woman stood, clad in a white lab coat and a… blue bathing suit, Rei questioned. As if that monster she saw before wasn't enough to be strange, this woman comes out.

Regardlessly, Rei kept her thoughts to herself and kept her glance at the woman.

The woman smiled at Kaji. "Kaji. Good. I don't have to go looking around for you. Thank god you know your way around, unlike that troublesome Misato."

Kaji grinned. "Did you get word from our favorite drunkard?"

"Yeah. Still in Germany with the Second Child. With Misato's easygoing personality and Asuka's fiery personality, I can see a lot of clashing between the two. Let's hope the Angels do us in before those two do."

_'So, I see Kaji's humpr isn't the only one dark here.' _Rei said inwardly, taking notice that many people – judging from these two – are dark and weird. _'Wait, what's a "Second Child"?' _Rei wondered. Probably the answer will come soon.

Kaji smiled. "Well, let's get the show on the road, shall we?"

"That's the Third Child, of the Marduk Report, then?" The blonde woman said. "Hello, Ikari-san. My name is Ritsuko Akagi. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Like Ritsuko, Rei keep her voice in a polite, respectful manner. '_She's much more proffessional that Kaji, alright.'_

"I see she's inheritated some of her father's nature." Ritsuko said to Kaji, alerting Rei.

Before Kaji said anything, Rei spoke. "I'm _nothing_ like him."

Though said montonously, Ritsuko knew that Rei spoke in a strong tone, maybe boiling over to the line of contempt. Paying no futher attention to it, Ritsuko 360-ed and walked closer to an elevator. Kaji and Rei followed. "Let's take you guys up now. We got no time to waste."

Rei almost didn't feel like she stepped into the elevator, or heard Kaji further speaking to Ritsuko.

"So, how's Unit One?"

Ritsuko leaned on the wall of the elevator. "It's still in a frozen state but regardless, it's ready and functional."

"And that percentage that it will work would be…?" Kaji said, looking at her, almost desperately.

"0.000000001." Said the blonde doctor.

"Doesn't 0.000000001 mean it's not going to work?"

"Don't be insulting now, Kaji. It's not zero, is it?" Ritsuko simply said, looking at the passing lights as the elevator headed to its destination, wherever it was.

Kaji grunted. "I guess we must be pretty damn pathetic to rely on a decimal percentage."

"Maybe so, but I have hopes it will work." She said, finality enter her throat of the topic.

"I'll hold that to you, Rits-chan." Kaji said, grinning at her confidence.

Rei, however, did not. _'What's this they worrying about? I hope it doesn't have to do with defeating that monster.'_

Somehow, she felt it DID have to with that monster and that scared her.

The shaft of the elevator became more open as Rei turned to see purple and one hand entered her eye. Her thoughts were ponder on what could that be, but the elevator's clumsly noise made the note that it had came to its intended destination. Ritsuko first exited, then Kaji and finally, Rei herself. The three then stepped inside a buoy, big enough to fit the three of them, at least. Ritsuko grabbed the wheel and powered the machined to accelerate. Rei noticed, unlike most water, which had a clear look to it, the water here was tangy-orange, almost red like blood. The strange fluid also had a strange smell to it also, making her cringle her nose a little. Kaji and Ritsuko didn't follow suite, almost like they didn't know or ignored the smell.

Soon, they came to an airlock, which Ritsuko hopped in, with ease. Kaji helped Rei inside, helping her step into a waterfall of darkness. "It's so dark." Rei said, stating out the obvious. Like somebody listening to her statements, the light flickered on and Rei was greeted by a face.

A purple face.

Like a bat out of Hell, Rei Ikari flickered through the book manual madly, which she wasn't interested in before, trying to find out where was this in the chapter! Kaji grinned, almost laughing at her antics. Ritsuko smirked herself, besides her serious demeanor. "You won't find _this _in the manual, Rei. You see here, right before your eyes, the benefactor to Mankind survival."

"What… what is this?" Rei was rocked with awe. Kaji smiled, almost arrogantly at her awe.

Ritsuko offered a response. "This is a synthetic humannoid fighter. This is the ultimately biological weapon of Mankind. This is… the Evangelion."

Rei stared into the soulful green eyes of the humannoid robot, stared down at its blue maw and its gaping jaw and felt a fearful awe rip in her. Her ambivalence was mixed with human fear, human awe, human wonder and human confusion.

Confusion on how and why this thing felt so familiar to her.

"So… this is what my father was working on for so many years?"

"Correct." A newer voice rang through.

And it pierced Rei. The voice was so familiar… He was here. And out of the darkness, Gendo Ikari came to meet eyes with his child.

"It's been a while, Rei."

Anger, hatred and fear bubling through every pore and limb of her body. Her heart sank and rose repeatedly and she felt her body temperature becoming colder, giving her several goosebumps running down her spine.

"Father." She whispered ghostly. _'You're here… I'm… I'm not ready to face you yet.'_

Regardless of where he was, she didn't want to hear his voice, not now. His gaze, through those signature glasses, almost peered through Rei Ikari's soul. "Do you know why you're here today, Rei?" He said, as gentle as he could be, still having that infamous hard edge in his throat.

Rei chocked back a scream that could have erupted through her mouth, but she let it go and let out an answer. "You… want me to pilot that, don't you?"

Ritsuko looked a little shocked that Rei got it quickly and Kaji himself was confused. "Wait? What? You want her to get into Unit One?"

"It's no other way, Kaji." Ritsuko said, steeling herself. "It has to be done."

"But, surely, can we just use Shinji again? I mean, Rei has no training."

"It isn't need. All she has to do is sit in the cockpit." Ritsuko dismissed his excuse.

"Ritsuko, I said that Unit One's activation was almost impossible but this, this is just almost suicide!" Kaji declared. "There's no way can she do this without-"

"Captain Ryouji," Gendo stepped into the conversation, "There is no other way." Rei flinched at his voice again.

"Surely you must understand, Kaji." Ritsuko started again. "Rei's our only hope, Captain. Shinji isn't able to go to battle with his injuries. It will be surely _his suicide _if you sent him to fight the Angel."

"But-"

"Dr. Akagi, we have no time," Gendo coldly dismissed Kaji's presence, ignoring him. He turned, only having a single lensed eye looking at Rei. "Will you pilot or not, child?"

"Child? _Child_?!" Rei brought up enough of the harboring anger in her throat to scream at Gendo. "What the hell? Do you really think I'll be able to do it?! Kaji's right; I couldn't fight that monster out there!"

"We don't expect you to become a master at it, Rei. We just need you to-" Ritsuko tried to reason but Rei brushed off her response to her last comments.

"Why did you really call me here?" Rei addressed Gendo again.

Gendo, not blinking, said, "I have a purpose for you."

"I'm not one of your play things! You can't just _give_ me a purpose! Not after those years you left me behind! I wouldn't help you if I could!" Rei screamed. Rei yelled. She declared this. _'Fuck you. Fuck you, you bastard.'_

"Rei-"

"Don't bother with her, Dr. Akagi." Gendo said, interrupting Ritsuko's hopeless words of inspiration. "We don't need this coward to help us." Rei growled at his words. "She's far too weak to help Humanity."

Gendo pressed a button on a wall and spoke in its com. "Fuyutsuki, send in Shinji."

A pause was in the response of a man. "…Ikari, is that wise?"

"Our only choice to this point, since the spare pilot is useless." Gendo's voice send shivers down Rei's spine.

"Hmm… I'll send him in." And the conversation ended quickly after that.

Gendo stared coldly at his daughter. "You could go back to your teacher, coward. I have no use for you now."

Rei, held back any pressure in her eyes, and instead screamed, "F-"

Unfortunately, she stopped her verbal assault on her father, to turn to a small and painful groan. And when she turned, she gasped. On a stretcher being wheeled by two female personel, a boy with amber brown hair sat up. He then seemed to look at the EVA, almost like he was ignoring her all together. Something seem so… familiar, so cold about this boy, perhaps more colder than her father. And when she looked into his eyes, she was disturbed and awed.

Red crimison eyes bore through his skulls. Cold piercing red.

"Shinji, the spare is useless. You will do it again." Gendo said, simply.

Shinji closed his eyes and said, in a velvet voice, "Yes sir."

Shinji stood up, bandages wrapped around his lithe frame. He stood up, in a strange blue bodysuit, with his hair further shadowing his pale face. Something about this boy screamed out, _'Beautiful…'_.

Something made her move fast when he fell down to his knees, clutching his ribs in that pulsating pain but Gendo's barotone voice rocked through her. "Aren't you going to leave now? We don't need you."

_'Bullshit.' _She said, growling at Gendo. _'So, you're going to use this boy? Because I didn't prove to be "useful'?!'_

She glared at her father, finding that her glare was next to useful as he stood, staring back, not blinking a bit.

"Well?" He asked. "Perhaps a shelter is still open for you? All non-NERV personel must leave."

Rei said nothing but brushed her shoulder and started walking towards the airlock she came in but a shattering rumble came, feeling like an earthquake was rocking the base of NERV. Kaji's yells for Shinji's safety, brought Rei back to run to shield Shinji. It was just something she couldn't control.

When it looked like Rei was going to feel the crushing pain of a piece of the base falling on her, she felt nothing. No pain, nothing. She looked up and gasped. A shield was put above her, a purple hand shield.

Ritsuko gasped. "Unit 01 moved!"

"But how? I thought it was still in cyrostatis?!" Kaji was equally shocked at this turn of events.

Nobody saw it but Gendo put up a ghost of a smile.

"Alright." A voice said. Kaji and Ritsuko turned to see Rei's mouth move.

"Alright," She repeated. "I'll pilot that thing."

…Gendo's smile gotten larger.

---

End.

A/N: How's that? I though, just recently, what would happen if Gendo Rokubungi and Yui Ikari had a daughter instead of a son. And this came out to be this: Rei, the apathy, spunky daughter of the Bastard King and Shinji, the quiet, mysterious figure. Besides the change and OOC-ness, the storyline will probably be the one and the same. Kaji also will be more of a special character in this one. He will retain his usual attitude: the cool womanizer we all know and love.

Sorry the ending was rushed but I really couldn't think too much about what to put for it.

Next time:

Rei Ikari vs. The Third Angel – Chapter 2

See you there and review!!


	2. A Stormy Arrival, Part 2

_I never really care what really happened to me._

Maybe a bus would hit me.

Maybe a train would kill me.

Maybe I would die by some terminal disease.

I just didn't care anymore. I was never really taught the meaning of Death, correctly.

I just never was.

Maybe I'll learn today, as this chamber smells like blood and that monster roars throughout the city of Tokyo-3. I have never smelt so much blood like this. It was like I was in a slaughterhouse. Again though, I do not know the meaning of death, of true pain probably. When my father left me, I stood strong and hateful. I was apathetic. Just recently have I realized what he truly done to me and that was just leave me there, on the corner of a Tokyo-2 street, just look back at him, with apathy, like he left me with apathy.

However, I seen true pain…

And that was in those steel crimson eyes.

**2015 A.D.**

"_…You hear me, Rei_?"

"Huh?" She turned back, opening her eyes again, like she just woke up from sleeping. She was doing that again, mulling in her thoughts.

"I said follow me to the cockpit." Ritsuko almost rolled her eyes at this. Talking was so troublesome at times, like in these kinds of situations, these kinds of states of panic. Any second, the Angel could strike down to NERV and destroy them all. "If you want to fight, come with me."

Rei remembered. She remembered how her legs betrayed her and she went to dive to that boy, saving him from falling debris _like that_. She couldn't understand what, how and why that happened. Why did she do that? Was her mind playing tricks?

She didn't bother now. She instead followed the blond doctor to wherever they were going.

Ritsuko lead Rei straight to the chamber of the Eva and simply waved her hand into the direction of the cockpit. Now, this was up to Rei.

_**The White Moon Project**_

Arc 1: Genesis

_**Chapter 2**_

Kaji stared into the screen, showing the girl. Ritsuko soon came in, looking over him. "Everything okay?" She asked him and the working personnel, who were typing and moving keys fast as the speed of light.

"Rei's bio-signatures are well. Her heart rate is stable and her alpha-beta waves are stable as well." One of the personnel, Maya Ibuki, informed.

"And her synch-rate is?"

"It's surprising. Her synchronization rate is 56%!" Another male personnel said at his station.

Ritsuko herself was amazed. _'That's even greater than the Second Child's or Shinji's… This will work.'_

"Will this work?" Kaji said, almost rhetorically.

"Of course. Everything is up us now." Gendo spoke, with a frigid edge, holding determination.

Kaji nodded and turned back to Rei, smiling gently. "How's it's going, Rei?"

"Okay, so far." Rei said, silently.

"Admitting Link Connect Liquid into cockpit." Maya said, hitting a single key.

"Huh?" Rei said and then, she saw orange-red liquid flooding into the chamber. "What the hell?!" She panicked at the liquid, reaching to her chin. She quickly held her breath in, her cheeks puffing out exaggerating. Finally, when she couldn't hold in anymore, she let go of her breath, submitting to her inevitable de-

_'Wait, I can breathe?' _She was confused. _'Isn't overflowing your lungs with liquid like this suppose to be extremely harmful?'_

Kaji finally broke out in a wild laugh, looking at Rei's fearful state turn to a confused perplexed one.

Ritsuko cleared her throat. "Relax, Rei. The liquid just helps your lungs out receive oxygen much better. Given the closed space, oxygen cannot be brought in constantly. Also, the Link Connect Liquid can cushion blows inflicted on you."

"Now you understand?" Kaji said, stopping his chuckling. "Alright, how you feel now?"

"It… taste strange. It taste like… blood." She said, sniffing the chamber and then crumpling her nose in disgust. "It even smells like blood."

Ritsuko frowned and said, "Just ignore it, Rei. Right now, concentrate on feeling the Eva."

"Feeling the Eva?" Rei was even more confused. "How do I do that?"

"The Evangelion is a bio-mechanical weapon that is built on your movements." Kaji offered an explanation based on his (limited at best) knowledge on the robot. "The more your synchronization rate goes up, the more you can feel the Eva. See those handles in the cockpit? Those handles help you move also but the most powerful 'handles' is your mind. If you concentrate on a thought, you practically can do anything. Got it, Rei?"

Ritsuko grinned. "Nice explanation, Mr. Ryouji."

Kaji smirked back, impressed himself at what he said.

"Ah." Rei's most intelligent comment rang out through the chamber after Kaji's little explanation, as the LCL came to her knees. _'So, if I walk, it walks, right?'_

"Rei, we're going to launch you out to the battlefield now. Prepare yourself." Ritsuko said, nodding to the personnel controlling the launch.

"Launch commencing in 3…"

Rei stared up; she unconsciously made the Eva's head do the same.

"Launch commencing in 2…"

Rei held onto the handles tightly. Kaji himself had anxiousness on his face, with sweat dripping down his skull.

"Launch commencing in 1…"

Rei closed her eyes and prepared herself.

"Everything's a-go!" The man said, behind the computer.

"Launch!" Kaji yelled.

And the elevator went up, flying at high speeds with blue sparks flying from its tracked rails. Rei felt herself move up and up, releasing that breath from her lungs.

She was now going to fight that monster.

---

When she approached the surface, night shimmered through the skies, with the tall buildings hiding stars. Rei's Eva stood, looking straightforward at the streets and the Angel's rampage in the background. Rei looked, looking at the screen which she heard Kaji's and Ritsuko's voices pour out. "What do I do now?"

"Try to walk. Remember, concentrate." Ritsuko asked, stressing the word but being as gentle as she could, even though it was evident of that anxiousness and fear climbing in her throat.

The Angel was unpredictable and they hardly knew what it was capable of.

"Okay." Rei said, trying to think on walking.

Rei smiled greatly when a foot rose and she moved about an inch. However, the Eva clumsily fell down at that, crushing a few cars and trees along the way. Rei's smile was quickly wiped off her face when she felt an uncomfortable pain rise in her belly. She grunted. 'So, I feel what the Eva feels? I guess the downside of it was pain.' However, like real-life falling, the pain wasn't too presentable or even ceaselessly. She got up, after concentrating on it.

However, when she fell down, it raised the interest and then panic in the Angel. The Angel stalked behind a building, 180-ing to the Eva. Rei looked back at the Angel and gasped as the Angel jumped at her. She unconsciously ripped her hands from the controls and thought about putting her hands up to protect herself.

It worked.

When Rei realized this, when the Angel bounce off her, she quickly thought about kicking the Angel (and retaining her balance at that). She almost smiled grimly when the leg did go up and kick at the Angel.

The males and females in the Command were amazed at that. "And to think, Shinji couldn't even do that." Kaji said, subconsciously to himself. However, Ritsuko heard it and dumbly nodded herself.

Behind his perched, folded hands, Gendo Ikari smiled and said, "Perfect…"

The older man behind him, Kozo Fuyutsuki, nodded also.

"Sir!" A technician addressed Kaji. "Rei's synchronization just jumped 10 points. She's at 60% now."

Kaji grinned. 'She's even better at this than Shinji was in his training. Go Rei!'

Rei looked back at the stunned Angel, like it wasn't anticipating that Rei would do that, like Rei could do that. Rei quickly caught onto to this and ran at the Angel, crying a war cry out. The Angel realized it too late and was head-butted into a nearby building, being gorged by the horned head of the Eva. A bluish fluid, looking like blood to Rei, came out the newly wounded Angel and it cried in anguish.

Rei raised a fist at the downed Angel but gasped as she felt the Angel jump up and grabbed her arm.

The Angel took it and added pressure to it. Realizing what the Angel was trying to do, Rei wrestled back but to no success as the Angel's grip seem to get stronger. Finally, she felt pain, bloody pain. It was so much pain, that she could cry.

And so she did.

When they heard Rei's holler, they all flinched, all except one. Kaji yelled back, "Rei, calm down, it's not real pain!"

'You fucking liar! You said whatever the Eva feels, I feel! Well, that monster just broke Eva's arm usually when you break somebody's arm, that somebody would feel PAIN!! GUESS WHAT I'M FEELING NOW?!!'

Rei's head swelled as she felt her arm. It didn't look like her arm was broken but it was.

"Damage critical on arm!" Maya screamed out.

Rei tried raising herself, despite the pain, but she couldn't. The Angel twisted its lithe but immensely strong right arm onto Eva's head and lifted Rei. She felt herself dangle now and screamed more in pain, as pressure was added to her head. The Angel, almost smirked, finally let go, to let her feel the harshness of an uppercut, smacking her in the chin.

Rei was thrown into a crushing three-flipped fall until falling down on Unit 01's cheek. Rei's whole face throbbed violently as she landed on the ground, face first.

"Damage severe!" Somebody said out the screen in the cockpit of the Eva. She couldn't hear who exactly said it. It could have been Ritsuko, Kaji or any other personnel but Rei was too busy trying to pick herself up. When she successfully did, she almost fell back because of the pain that was almost everywhere. Her legs, her head, her left arm, they were burning and that pain reached throughout the body somehow, reaching into her torso and her other arm.

She moved and it proved to be a bad mistake.

The Angel's eyes glimmered, flickering brightly and out came the hollowness that was its "eyes", came an orangey blast of heat, almost… nuclear, Kaji noticed. Suddenly, his eyes watered in shock and remembered quickly how to talk. "Rei, watch out!"

Rei took another step and a blast came out its eyes, running across the ground and finally hitting its target: Unit 01.

Rei could only hear the shouts and cries of her name when she went down.

---

She woke up, looking around in the white room. She quickly sat up and clutched herself in pain. Quick motion, but she didn't remember that a pain went inside her. She didn't cry this time, she didn't cry.

Rei Ikari fell back to her bed and just looked up. "Unfamiliar ceiling."

---

"So, how's she doing?" Kaji said, almost bleakly at Ritsuko, as he stood himself up at the wall, one leg on the ground.

"You know, that the third time you asked me that, Kaji." She said, at her desk, now finding the computer more interesting than answer him. She sipped at her coffee, enjoying the bitterness of it.

"Just tell me, already." Kaji sighed.

"She's fine. The doctors said she's recovering fast. For someone who endured pain like that, she's recovering quickly. Perhaps LCL is still in her system." She joked lightly.

Kaji seemed satisfied with the answer and no longer spoke on the subject, until Ritsuko integrated it again. "You know, I never seen you worry over a woman, not even over all the girlfriends you had over the time or Misato."

Kaji had the decency to blush at that. "H-Hey, it ain't like that. I mean… I feel kind of guilty letting her get into the Eva, you know?"

"Listen don't be. If anything, you should be proud. She fought and she survived. She helped us."

"But she didn't even have training. Shinji did and he got defeated easily." Kaji said, almost frustrated. "I don't get it. Her synch-rate was higher than I would think and she performed better than I thought. "

"Yes, it's a mystery but you really think anybody would care?" Ritsuko said, not bother to look into Kaji's perplexed eyes.

"Yeah," He conceded. "You're right. Those sheep down there wouldn't give a flying damn, especially the Commander." He said, whispering the last part.

Ritsuko nodded accordingly. "Just go visit her, Kaji."

"Hmm," He thought of it. "I will… As soon as I'm done with that insufferable paperwork."

"Stop using that paperwork as an excuse. Go. Visit her." She turned to him and offered a smile. 'I'll cover for your ass, again."

Kaji grinned. "Just like in college."

"Just like in college." She repeated, grinning also.

Kaji made his way to the door. "Hey Rits?"

"Yeah?" She said, still staring at his back.

"Thanks."

"No problem, Kaji."

He left without hearing her say, "Any time, Kaji-kun."

---

Rei looked, almost bored as she sat in the room. It's been two days and she hasn't seen anyone familiar. Those doctors came in, smiling friendly and then left with haste. She thought about the battle and how she feared that she had indeed lost to that monster.

So, her bravado was all talk and no action, huh?

She sighed. "They probably don't want me. My father probably thinks I'm useless." She thought, bitterly, of her father. "I think I can't wait until I leave."

"Yep, you will, kiddo."

And Rei, looking up, stared back at Kaji's unshaven face. "Did ya miss me?"

Although he was two days late, she smiled greatly.

---

"How's the arm?" He said, as he walked beside the girl.

She nodded at his question. "It's fine, getting better. There still pain but nothing too big."

He nodded and smiled, rubbing her hair. "You did good."

"Huh? I did?"

"You don't remember, do you?"

"…No." She admitted easily.

Kaji smiled. "You defeated the Angel."

"I don't remember that." She said truthfully.

"Well, you did." Kaji said, finality climbing in his throat.

She accepted this, although she was still confused at it. "…Do you have my bag?"

"Your duffle bag?" He vaguely remembered the mustard-y colored bag. "No, I don't. I think Dr. Akagi has it. I'll check with her."

"Could you get it now?" She asked.

"Well, you did just get checked out. Maybe we could drop there. But first, I want to show you something."

"Okay?" Rei said, confusion coming back, again. "What?"

Kaji winked. "It's a secret, kid. I ain't going to tell you until we get there."

"Fine." She said, almost like she was pouting.

Kaji grinned and took her out to his car. "Let's go."

---

"I can see what you wanted to show me now." Rei said, staring at what he wanted to show her.

They were on a hill, on the surface of battle-scarred Tokyo-3, looking at the orangey-skies as the sun danced its last dance in the clouds and in the skies. The wind tickled her amicably and for once, she stood with a genuine smile, looking at the placid beauty of a war-torn city.

"It gets better." Kaji smiled. "Any second now."

And with Kaji's prediction, building came up out the ground, taking away the ripped and destroyed buildings and putting up new and improved ones.  
"Oh wow!" was Rei's comment on this.

"Yep. This is Tokyo-3, the city you saved."

Kaji talked with such confidence in his mouth. However, Rei frowned and said inwardly, 'No… I didn't save this place. Somebody else did and I know it's not me.'

---

Ritsuko looked at him with a crooked eyebrow as they both walked through the walls of NERV. "You took her in?"

"Yep." He said simply, not a expression much on his face. "Hey, you want some coffee?"

Ritsuko ignored his question and repeated hers. "You took her in?"

"Uh yeah? I really don't see the problem here, Rits."

"Kaji… that's not really appropriate." She said, dryly. "Oh and yes please, let's get some coffee."

"Why isn't it appropria – what kind?"

"Black, no sugar, just a little bit of milk." She said. "And of course it isn't appropriate! You're a grown-ass man and that's a little-ass girl!"

"Ritsuko… please." Kaji said, with a frown deep on his face. "I'm no ephebophile now. I already have woman troubles."

"Probably because of your immense flirting." Ritsuko muttered.

Kaji smiled. "You have no problem when I flirt with you."

"T-That never happens!" Ritsuko yelled at his stupidity

Kaji laughed as he reached for the coffee stand. "Oh my god! Are you blushing like a schoolgirl? I thought we're adults here, not children anymore."

"You sure as hell act like it, even when we were in Intermediate school together." She said, sneering at his direction as he finished making his coffee.

Kaji pouted but still, he went on to pass her coffee and drink his drink. "Listen, if it so much of a problem of Rei living with me now, you can…come live with us!!" Kaji suggested.

Ritsuko glared. "Shut up."

"Come on! We can be roomies again, like in the old days – in our college days!" Kaji said, sipping at his drink. "You know you can't resist."

"Thanks but no thanks. I think I like it back in my apartment." Ritsuko said dully at him.

"Aw well, suit yourself. It must be fascinating living with cats anyway." He said, trying to sound jealous at the cats that lived in Ritsuko's apartment.

"It is." Ritsuko played into his game, sounding serious.

"You never show me any love anymore!" He sounded, almost sobbing. "You rather play with your cats instead of me!"

"Kaji, stop it already." She rubbed her temples. "God, you're worst than Misato."

"Well, at least I don't show up drunk to work, half-naked like she was." Kaji grumbled. "That girl seriously took on too many guys looking at her."

"Jealous?" Ritsuko smirked.

Kaji's face lit up a little red but he succumbed it. "Shut up."

Ritsuko finally laughed at his expense.

Kaji sighed. "You know, it was a simply task of retrieving that damn duffle bag from your office and what we get to? Me being teased of once having a drunkard of a girlfriend."

"Hey, you suggested the coffee." Ritsuko held up her foam cup as her proof.

---

End.

A/N: The end was a little funny omake-like thing to light up the tense in Evangelion. This chapter was obviously NOT perfect. Nothing is as good as the first chapter but to all who bared it, thanks. This chapter really wasn't really focused on the fight with Sachiel. It's because I'm not good at making fighting scenes long, so I added Ritsuko and Kaji's little talks. They are fun to do, because I think it would be interesting seeing the two of them interact. They don't do much of that in the Anime or Manga. Heck, I might input a minor pairing of them or put a triangle between Ritsuko, Kaji and Misato.

Still, some of the things that Shinji did it the Anime will be exactly what Rei does and some of them won't be exactly what Rei does. Unlike in the anime/manga, I know Shinji couldn't even do the things Rei does in this chapter against Sachiel but I decided that Rei is a little more determined that Shinji was.

Anyway, up next is Rei's first day in school and it might not turn out as she might think it would be.

Don't forget to review now!!


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